New Teen Comedy Mean Girls Seeks to Amuse, Empower Young Wom

 

Alan Silverman

A youth counselor¹'s real-life experience with teenagers and high school social circles forms the basis of a wickedly witty² new comedy film starring Lindsay Lohan and written by Tina Fey of the Saturday Night Live TV show. Alan Silverman has a look at Mean Girls.
Teenager Cady Heron really needs her vivid imagination when her wildlife biologist parents move back to the States from Africa and she has to learn survival in a much more hostile environment: a suburban³ high school
The 'plastics' - "teen royalty," as one student describes them -- are the super-sexy, glamour⁴ girls who dictate⁵ who or what is 'in' or 'out;' and getting 'in' with them means social success.
Being the center of attention is seductive, but Cady quickly learns that the duplicity and backstabbing are too high a price to pay; so while she pretends to be one of them, she sets out to teach a lesson to the Mean Girls. Seventeen-year-old Lindsay Lohan stars as Cady.
"Girls are mean, especially in high school," says Lohan. "You are kind of like in this bubble and all you have are your group of friends and all you have to talk about is what is going in high school; so that is all girls do and this movie really points that out and gets into detail with it.
I do have a 10-year-old sister who will want to see this with her friends and I want her to get something out of it," she adds. " I think it's the message of, in high school and life in general, don't change who you are just to be accepted by other people, because in the long run it is not going to help you. You are always going to be acting⁶ like a different person and no one will know you for you. I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but it's true."
Mean Girls. is based on the book Queen Bees And Wannabes, a parent's guide to adolescence⁷ written by youth counselor Rosalind Wiseman from experiences at her Washington D.C.-based "Empower Program."
"What I like about the movie is that for the first half you see what girls do that is so mean. It is real," she says. "It brings out all the ugliness of it and then it shows what the costs are, so at the very end when she says 'calling somebody stupid doesn't make me smarter or calling somebody fat doesn't make me thinner,' that is exactly what I'm talking about. That is why I like it. When you talk about the things that are not so great and talk about the costs and the consequences, I think that is good."
Tina Fey plays a teacher who tries to be a mentor⁸ to Cady; and she also adapted Wiseman's non-fiction book into the film's script. Fey says it was surprisingly different from her 'day job' as head writer for the popular TV sketch⁹ comedy show Saturday Night Live.
注释：
counselor [5kaJnsElE(r)] n. 法律顾问，律师
wickedly [wikidli] adj. 坏透的，顽皮的
star [stB:] v. 由……担任主角
suburban [sE5bE:bEn] adj. 偏远的
glamour [5^lAmE] n. 魅力
dictate [dik5teit] v. 规定
seductive [si5dQktiv] adj. 诱人的
duplicity [dju(:)5plisiti] n. 口是心非
backstab [bAkstAb] v. 以卑鄙的手段陷害
like [laik] adj. 相似的，同样的
in the long run 最后
cheesy [5tFi:zi] adj. 低劣的
adolescence [9AdEJ5lesEns] n. 青春期
empower [im5pauE] v. 授权
mentor [5mentC:] n. 导师，良师益友
fiction [5fikFEn] n. 小说，虚构
script [skript] n. 剧本
sketch [sketF] n. 短剧

1 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

2 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

3 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

4 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

5 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

8 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

9 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。